Staff Reporter

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Zuma and Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi will pay a two-day visit to Mozambique this weekend, the president’s office said. They will attend the inauguration of Mozambican President Joachim Chissano in Maputo on Saturday. Mbeki also plans to attend Sunday’s meeting of Southern African Development Community heads […]

DEON POTGIETER, Johannesburg | Friday 5.00pm. THE first super-fight of the new century will take place in South Africa on February 19 at Carnival City in Brakpan. “Baby” Jake Matlala and the powerhouse puncher Hawk Makepula will meet in one of the most eagerly awaited contests in South African boxing history. They will contest the […]

KENYAN riot police used tear gas in central Nairobi on Friday against about 100 protesting students who threw stones at the police and at passing motorists, blocking the city’s main highway. The clashes followed similar unrest on Thursday, which broke out between supporters of rival political groups with opposing views on who should draw up […]

STEVEN MANN, Cape Town | Friday 5.45pm. THE American maxi yachts Sagamore and Zephyrus IV reached the half-way mark in the Cape to Rio yacht race on Friday and are set to shatter the race record of 14 days and 15 hours if the ideal weather conditions hold. “Sagamore has sailed the furthest, but Zephryus […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Friday 2.45pm. BOBBY Charlton, a representative of England’s 2006 World Cup bid, said choosing South Africa to host the event would be the wrong decision. The Manchester United legend was quoted in Friday’s Daily Express newspaper as saying: “It’s been our policy not to criticise others because once the inspection teams […]

ANDY CAPOSTAGNO, Houghton | Friday 8.00pm. NAMIBIA’S Trevor Dodds leads the Alfred Dunhill Challenge half way through the second round at waterlogged Houghton. Dodds played 32 holes on the second day after only completing four before the light closed in on Thursday night. He shot a three under par 69 in his opening round and […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Saturday 6.30pm. ZULU king Goodwill Zwelithini is seeking a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki over controversial plans by the South African government to incorporate tribal land into municipal areas. Zwelithini on Saturday added his voice to protests by the Amakhosi (Zulu chiefs) in KwaZulu-Natal on proposals by the national demarcation board […]

SOUTH Africa’s Wayne Ferreira, fresh from a Hopman Cup triumph, was brought down to earth in stunning fashion when he was blasted in straight sets by Andre Agassi in the Kooyong Classic. Last year’s No.1 blasted the South African 6-2, 6-4 in just 57 minutes, thriving on the super-fast hardcourt conditions juiced up by sticky […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Centurion | Friday 6.45pm. IT has been a hard day at the office for the South African batsmen, and after 45 overs of a rain-delayed first innings the home side is back in the dressing room on 155/6. England skipper Nasser Hussain won the toss and sent the South Africans in to bat […]

SOUTH Africa’s star middle-order batsman, Daryll Cullinan, on Friday announced his retirement from limited-overs cricket, but said that his Test career will continue. Cullinan (32) made the announcement at the end of the first day of the fifth Test against England at Centurion, and said that he has made the decision because he wants to […]

IRISH Prime Minister Bertie Ahern on Thursday handed over a R200000 cheque to Cape Town’s only Aids orphanage, rounding off a four day official visit to South Africa. Ahern also met some of the 42 children that are being cared for at the orphanage.

ZAMBIAN riot police on Thursday broke up a demonstration by hundreds of protesters demanding the reinstatement of more than 300 junior doctors sacked for going on strike. The demonstration took place in the Copperbelt town of Kitwe some 400km from the capital Lusaka. The government fired the doctors for going on strike to demand better […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Orkney | Friday 9.10am. NINE of 15 miners were brought to the surface early on Friday after being trapped more than two kilometers underground in a gold mine in the North West town of Orkney for more than 90 hours. Jubilant applause from anxious colleagues and relatives greeted the first of the nine […]

A NORTHERN Province shop assistant allegedly beat an armed robber to death with the man’s shotgun on Wednesday. Police spokesman Captain Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said on Thursday Tshiphiwa Netshikulwe, 30, of Shayandima village near Thohoyandou, was killed in a shop he tried to rob at nearby Itsani at about 4pm on Wednesday. Netshikulwe bought a cigarette […]

THE referees and assistant referees for the African Nations Cup in Ghana and Nigeria between January 22 and February 13 have been announced. Group A Referees – Abderrahim al-Arjoune (Morocco), Mourad Daami (Tunisia), Hailemalack Tessema (Ethiopia), Ali Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates) Assistants – Taoufik Adjengui (Tunisia), Ali Tomusange (Uganda), Farag Wagih (Egypt), Claro Palomo (Philippines) […]

FORMER president Nelson Mandela launches his mediation bid in Burundi’s fragile peace process on Sunday when he meets rival Burundian leaders in Tanzania, officials said on Thursday. It will be Mandela’s first meeting with the leaders of Burundi’s government and opposition negotiating teams since he took over as mediator from Tanzania’s founding president Julius Nyerere, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Tripoli | Thursday 3.15pm. THE Libyan Olympic Committee said Thursday it has taken all necessary steps to ensure the safety of participants in the Paris-Dakar rally after the Niger leg was cancelled due to terrorist threats. The statement was issued through Libya’s official JANA news agency after organisers of the rally began a […]

THE opposition Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party led by Laurent Gbagbo has finally agreed to join the transition government of General Robert Guei. Four ministers from the party took part in the council of ministers meeting held in Abidjan, the country’s commercial city on Wednesday. “We are now in the government,” said Leon Emmanuel Monet, […]

“Something happened” in the tail of the EgyptAir Boeing 767 which crashed into the sea on October 31 shortly after take off from New York, killing all 217 people aboard, the chairman of EgyptAir announced on Monday. “The plane plummeted because of something that happened in its tail,” Mohammed Fahim Rayyan told journalists, but did […]

MOZAMBIQUE opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama is refusing to attend the investiture of his rival, incumbent President Joaquim Chissano. Opposition Renamo general secretary Joao Alexandre confirmed that Dhlakama will not be present when Chissano is to be sworn into office for a new five-year term or for the inaugural session of the newly-elected parliament. Renamo appealed […]

ANDY CAPOSTAGNO, Houghton | Thursday 8.00pm. TORRENTIAL overnight rain delayed the start of the Alfred Dunhill Challenge at Houghton Golf Club for five and a half hours on the opening day of the European Tour. With about a quarter of the field due to return early on Friday morning to complete their rounds, the leader […]

CELLULAR network provider Vodacom on Tuesday it will inject about R540-million into its newly established subsidiary Vodacom Tanzania, creating 200 direct jobs. This follows the Tanzania Communications Commission’s decision to issue a licence to operate a GSM cellular network, in December last year. Tanzanian shareholders own 49% of the new cellular network, while Vodacom has […]

COMPLETE fixture list for the African Nations Cup in Ghana and Nigeria between January 22 and February 13 (all times GMT): Group A (Seeds: 1 Ghana, 2 Cote d’Ivoire, 3 Cameroon, 4 Togo) Jan 22 – Ghana v Cameroon, National Stadium, Accra 1600 Jan 24 – Cote d’Ivoire v Togo, Accra 1600 Jan 27 – […]

MORE than 7500 people have fled fighting in Angola and crossed the border into Zambia since January 1, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday. The refugees who arrived in Sijembela, just across the border from Angola, had come from the areas of Luiana and Jamba, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said, adding that they […]

THE South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said on Tuesday that it will only announce the winner of the country’s third network licence in July. The delay means the winner might only be operational by early next year and could make it more difficult for the newcomer to break into the MTN, Vodacom duopoly. Consortiums have […]

THE Paris to Dakar rally, suspended on Tuesday after terrorist threats, will restart on Monday, January 17. Wednesday’s seventh stage start from the Niger capital of Niamey was cancelled following a warning to race organisers from the French foreign ministry. Rally organisers the Thierry Sabine Organisation (TSO) were informed of the possibility of a security […]

VEHICLE sales last year fell 5,9% from 1998 to their lowest level since 1992, a manufacturers’ association said on Wednesday. Last year 295,785 new vehicles were sold, compared with 314,410 in 1998, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa said in a statement. Nearly 36% of these were passenger cars, the association said. […]

JONTY Rhodes on Thursday failed a fitness test and has lost his place in the South African side to face England in the fifth Test at Centurion Park on Friday. Rhodes will be replaced by Border’s Pieter Strydom, and Strydom’s inclusion is the the only change to the side which won the fourth Test, and […]

Leading handicap positions in the MTN Cape to Rio yacht race on Tuesday: IMS CLASS: 1 – Sagamore (skipper Jim Dolan) 2649 nautical miles to finish; 2 – Zephyrus IV (Robert Mc Neil) 2658; 3 – Greenwich Warrior (Phil Gutsche) 2825; 4 – Maxtec Wizard (Andrew Louw) 2935; 5 – BP Umoya Omusha (Hanno Teuteberg) […]

CARLOS Sousa and Richard Sainct completed repeat performances Tuesday in winning the auto and bike classes of the sixth stage of the Dakar rally. The pair repeated their triumphs of last Thursday in the Dakar to Tambacounda stage by prevailing from Ougadougou, Burkina Faso to Niamey. But there are no real changes in the overall […]

TWENTY-FIVE people were injured when the bus they were travelling in overturned on the Henley Dam road in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands on Thursday morning. Provincial traffic spokesman Colin Govender said the bus driver apparently lost control of the vehicle when he suffered an epileptic fit. The bus rolled several times before it landed on its […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 8.20pm THE Pretoria High Court on Thursday granted a second search and seizure warrant against controversial millionaire Billy Rautenbach. The warrant will allow the Directorate for Serious Economic Offences investigators use documents it seized from Rautenbach’s Johannesburg mansion in November. South African officials reportedly seized three truckloads of documents that […]